A sequel to Cinderella's Taxi
From Eric: 90% of this is from my shy but talented friend, though
I polished and edited it.
From Gambler: My reason for writing this is that the initial
story ending seemed weak enough to stand on its own, but what
really happened was that I was too tired to go on in the morning
after writing it for about 6 hours (while downloading MP3 files
from Napster and watching TV with one of my eyes in the same
time, a real multi-tasking person I am!). I sent it off to my
wonderful best friend Eric for his approval and editing when my
eyes were having trouble keeping open for 3 seconds. Yes, it's a
bad excuse, but it's really what had happened that Saturday
morning when my eyes were already sleeping, my hands were on
strike, and my brain stopped producing creative juices.
The initial story was an experiment in story writing for myself,
trying to see if I can improve upon my story writing skill. The
story telling format was borrowed from the wonderful film
"Princess Bride". The retelling of Cinderella's tale in a modern
time with the intended twist was initially inspired when someone
mentioned that Sleeping Beauty might not really be in a deep
sleep for those long years, but was really a vampire and only got
up at night to hunt for prey. Plus, of course, I want the story
to have the cursed taxi make its appearance to really change
everyone's life.
So in a short sentence, basically I borrowed the format, recycled
old Cinderella fairy tale, adopting it to modern day setting in
NYC, and put every character in the story in hell with the
addition of cursed taxicab near the end.
After Eric's hard work on the rewrite and editing of the story
(even though he wasn't feeling well that day), the story was sent
to the lists. Several readers took some of their precious time
from their busy life to gracefully respond with their reviews and
comments. As a new author that's still wet behind ears, I'm
always grateful and joyful to have others read the story and give
helpful feedback, and I gladly to read reviews that saying it's a
wonderful story, or even reviews that rip the story apart. I do
save and treasure ALL the readers' comments, responds and
feedback, and read them when a story I have in progress is stuck
in heavy mud or development hell, to remind myself why I write
the story in the first place.
I'm that kind of writer sees all responds and feedback to any
story as a great tool for the next story in development. And if
you have noticed, there was a sort of thank you notice written in
the Cinderella's Taxi story, by mentioning most of the folks that
had given feedback to my previous stories. I forgot to put a few
names in the story due to my lousy memory, but I promise they
will soon appear in other stories, if I manage to finish them.
Going back to reader responds/feedback on Cinderella's Taxi, with
exception of one reader, most said it was a very sad ending for
Cinderella, that the ending could use some polish. So with that
in mind and after a few days of good sleep, this part of the
story slowly formed in my head. I have to thank all the readers
who have taken their time to respond with their comments, that's
the main reason second part of the story is about to be told.
Oh, yeah. In case you're wondering, I haven't got any
inspirations from those late night TV infomercials I encountered
almost every night. But who knows...
The Cinderella Taxi Caper
By Eric and Gambler
Two long days after baby-sitting for his grand daughters the old
man looked forward to seeing those delightful, restless twins
again. His daughter was getting back to dating, as she finally
managed to get rid of that no good ex-husband of hers. The two
had met and fell in love during her college years at NYU. The
ending of their long union started when Kathy found that there
was another woman in their marriage, her best friend!
The old man was glad that at least she was getting back in the
dating game. The only down side of the whole thing was Kathy
might need the service of babysitter to care for her twin
daughters at short notice, when she had to work late, at night
classes or church functions where she was busy trying to find a
man. Thank God he had talked his daughter out of the disastrous
bar scene! The old man was usually the one looking after the
girls, watching children's video programs with them and telling
them endless bedtime stories.
But tonight, he was in his small apartment, watching television
and waiting for his bedtime to come. Of course, this also meant
that his attempts of finding a certain taxi driver had failed
again, as always for the past five long years. He knew he would
never give up his quest for that chance to get back to the life
he deserved, and he probably never would be able to find that
taxicab that changed his life forever.
Five years ago, he was someone else living a horrible life,
Cindy. But after the help of friends from Fictionmania and other
related sites on the Internet, she had finally been able to
attend the party she had dreamt of. She had met the love of her
life, who just happened to be the only son of the wealthiest man
on Earth, when she stepped inside the party. The two had looked
in each other's eyes, never separating from each other for a
moment at the birthday party in his honor. That is, until she
realized she had to return to her house, hurriedly at midnight
and broke away from the handsome young man. Just as she was glad
to have all her dreams came true that night, the cursed taxicab
and driver took it all away from her and stuck her in the body of
this old man when the full moon ended.
A couple of years back, he might be crying over the lousy luck
fate handed to him. But now, he looked at the TV and just
wondered if he would ever find that taxi driver. On the Learning
Channel he watched, with not much interest, "History's Mystery".
Tonight's episode was about what if Napoleon had been poisoned by
his most trusted friend while in exile. A quick knock on his
apartment front door pulled him from his TV world.
The old man slowly, with aches and pains, got up from his chair
and walked to the door. He saw through the peephole someone he
hadn't seen in five years! He couldn't believe his eyes and just
stood there. Then the second series of knocks woke him from his
reverie. He hurried; fumbling as he unlocked the five locks
guarding his apartment, opening the door. For the first time, he
was face to face with the person he wanted to see for the last 5
long years, the taxi driver!
The two men looked at each other, not knowing what to say to each
other, or even how to say it. The old man puzzled at why the taxi
driver was in front of him now. But before he could say anything,
the taxi driver broke the ice by gesturing if he could come into
the apartment, the old man then showed him into the small living
room.
As the two sat, facing each other, questions were still in the
old man's mind. What, why, how, who, and what now?
"Hello," the taxi driver said for the first time. The old man
just looked at him, not able to show any emotion, still too
puzzled to see the guy after five long years of futile search.
"I know you are wondering why am I here, but just give me 10
minutes. You can decide then if you want to kill me or kick me
out of this apartment. But just hear what I have to say." The
taxi driver pleaded to the old man to give him a chance. The old
man thought it for a moment and nodded for the taxi driver to
continue.
*****
Four and half years ago, Walter Pascal and Cindy Fitzgerald had
just returned from their honeymoon. The two were madly in love
and still couldn't be apart from each other for long.
But Walter had noticed something; something was little bit
different about his newlywed wife. On the evening they met for
the first time, she was sweet, beautiful and smart. Now, she was
even more beautiful, and might be even smarter, but she had lost
that sweetness in her personality. Cindy was now into making her
stepmother and stepsister penniless, she spent most of her free
time on the phone to the lawyer team she assembled, with twenty
of the best family, estate and criminal lawyers New York City
had, and set them loose on her stepmother and stepsisters without
mercy.
First her lawyer team was able to prove the stepmother had forged
her father's will during his dying days. After rounds of
testimonies from twenty different handwriting experts from around
the world, the judge declared the will was a total fake, and
reverted her father's will to the previous one, which left all of
his possessions to his little daughter. Then the case was turned
over to the local DA to prosecute the stepmother on the charge of
falsifying documentation, illegal child labor, child abuse, and
tons of other charges.
Striped of most of her wealth, the stepmother wasn't able to get
lawyers that would be able to fight those charges, and in the
end, was sentenced to serve for 80 years in jail with no chance
to parole until 40 years. Then the civil suit filed by Cindy's
lawyers took all stepmother's wealth away and put her two
stepsisters out on the street destitute, with no skills to earn a
living in the dead of New York winter.
Of course, besides the team of best lawyers money can buy helping
her, the skillful PR campaigning on Cindy's part had made the
public on her side long before the first of the five trials
opened, which was covered by all major TV networks and CNN live.
Plus the wealthy Pascal family connections, aided by New York
City's most powerful, gladly helped the new Mrs. Pascal on her
fight for justice and revenge.
Walter was troubled by this side of Cindy that he never seen in
their first meeting and couldn't believe she could be like that.
Even after the trials were over, the sweet Cindy he knew never
did return. Instead of going with the flow of things as the old
Cindy would do, the Cindy now sleeping next to him in the
waterbed would fight anyone that blocked her path to anything.
Almost as if she changed her personality with one of her lawyers,
she would fight to the end at all costs.
Maybe she spent too much time with her lawyers, Walter thought,
and he finally convinced her to take a two-week vacation at
family owned island near St. Thomas. But that still didn't change
her much, except she was now glued to Court TV in her free time
and would deride the judges and lawyers on TV with few legal
terms that Walter wasn't even sure what they were, and Walter had
took a few business law courses while getting his MBA in Oxford
University!
The family and his employees saw Walter as the heir to the family
business; he had been groomed to take over his father's position
as CEO of the company in ten years. Walter had thought, in the
slow periods at work, that it was almost impossible for him to
believe that he would find a girl like Cindy, losing her and
finding her again after an almost futile search. It was a dream
come true, they got married and would happily ever after. He was
even more surprised to find out on their first night together
right after engagement that she was a virgin and never been with
a man before!
He was so lucky to find a girl like her.
But somehow, even though never having been with a man before, she
knew sure knew how to get the most out of her partner during
sexual intercourse! When and where to touch, to make her mate
feel he was the best lover in the world and her full lips were
wonderful to kiss! Her long fingers could caresses all over his
body and he never got tired of her smooth touch and light gliding
motion as she used her hands and fingers over his male sexual
organ. In a simple phrase, she was incredible.
And was she smart! After they got back from the honeymoon, Cindy
finished all her college courses at the community college at the
top of her class and transferred to NYU.
There she finished the two upper division years, after changing
her major from child behavior to pre-law. She went on to law
school and passed her bar exam in flying colors just a few weeks
back. Also, she didn't want to have a kid right away, which was
strange since it at their first meeting she had talked about her
dream of becoming a loving mother with lots of kids!
Another thing that had changed was her insisting to be able to
work after marriage, the Pascal family was glad enough to give
her some easy position, but Cindy somehow managed to get assigned
to the corporate law division and over saw the teams of lawyers
in house! She was ruthless in her dealings.
Her rapid upward career moves had stepped on a few toes in the
company, but she had dealt with them by either crushing them to
pieces, or forcing them out of the company. Not only by using her
position as Walter's wife, but all with merciless drive of a
seasoned lawyer. Cindy got what she wanted without giving a
thought, ousting others in her way. That scared Walter the most.
For most of the five years they were married, the Pascal family
had wanted to see a heir produced to continue the family name of
Pascal. But again Cindy didn't want to have a child so soon and
did her best to delay being a mother until she finished her
higher education and passed her bar exam. Even with other
powerful family members asking when would there be a little child
on the way, Cindy would just change the subject as she tried her
best to hide her intentions from the larger family circle.
So it was logical for Walter to decide to hire ten of the best
private investigators in New York City two months back, to do a
complete check on what had happened to his wife. Could it be some
earlier child abuse that forced a second personality that
suddenly surfaced after all those years, or there was something
that no one could explain clearly or dare to tell. The simple
instructions were that no stone would be un-turned, any and every
lead would be checked.
Two months of checking all Cindy's family background and her life
under close examination, nine of the ten investigators turned up
nothing unusual and reported back to Walter with much of note.
Except for the middle aged Jimmy Parish, owner and lead
investigator of Parish Detective Service. He was proud of his
family business; it had been the best for the last 50 years! He
had to take over his father's investigation firm when he was
still in high school, when his father had been killed. Jimmy was
the best in the city; he had an imagination beyond the ordinary!
He saw it all and heard it all, and believed anything could
happen to anyone, anywhere.
He was about to retire from the business and had agreed to sell
the firm to others upon retirement, but the money Walter Pascal
offered and future business dealing with the Pascal family would
mean a much higher sale price he could get from the future buyers
of the firm. So he took the case, cleared all his work in
progress cases to junior investigators, and tried his damnedest
to find what his employer wanted to find out.
Unlike other investigators on the case, he didn't believe Cindy's
childhood had anything to do with her sudden change of behavior,
nor that her stepmother and stepsisters did much of the damage to
her psychologically. He believed that her behavior changed
happened after the night of dance on Walter's 23rd birthday
party, and before Cindy had answered all the questions the search
team had asked of her, successfully proving she was the one
Walter fell in love with.
He went to interview the stepmother that was now serving time in
the minimum women detention center just outside of New York City.
With good food and lack of exercise, her figure had ballooned up.
And during the visitation hour, her hands never stopped knitting,
but she still had the sense to ask for four hundred bucks to
answer all his questions. Jimmy pulled out four new hundred
dollar bills and slid them across the table without giving it a
thought, as he would just charge it to the expense account of
Walter Pascal.
After few minutes of normal questioning, Jimmy asked if anything
different about Cindy that the stepmother had noticed after she
attended the party in secret. At first, stepmother said she
didn't think so, but she said after Walter had asked everyone to
leave the party, she had tried to stick around a little bit
longer to get a better chance for Walter to notice her two
daughters after everyone had left. But Walter wouldn't see anyone
and was busy calling all the taxi companies around the city to
see if their taxicab had just picked up a customer in front of
Plaza hotel between the times of 11pm to 11:10pm.
She looked back at the investigator and told him that Walter was
angry and later told his people to handle the calls to the taxi
companies, while he used his cellphone in the garden to call
someone in California, asking if anyone could break a security
function on some gadget. The answer he got wasn't to his liking
either and he made several calls after that and got frustrated.
The stepmother remembered she had to check on Cindy and she
called home with her own cellphone.
Cindy did answer the phone, but only after letting it rang for 5
or 6 times. She was breathless while answering the expected call,
claimed she was watching TV in her basement room and had to run
up to the living room to answer the phone.
Then Cindy said: "No, I didn't try to take a bite out of the
gourmet ice cream that no one dared to touch for the past couple
of months while watching their figures and waists for the party.
Only dogs and pigs would want to eat ice cream!"
"I gasped at her rudeness and vowed she would pay for it later!
She were the last to leave, but oddly there was another limo
parked in the parking lot and the driver was still waiting for
their customer to show up."
Jimmy wrote all the clues down, and thanked the fat woman bulging
out of the prison uniform, still busy knitting. He got in his car
and went to the Plaza Hotel, asking for the doorman that was
working that night. The doorman was now the night shift reception
manager, thanks partly to Walter's highly appraising comments
after the doorman had told Walter about Cindy dropped Palm Pilot
PDA, enabling Walter to track her down and later play a role in
proving whom she was.
The night manager met Jimmy just before he started his shift, and
had to cut the meeting down to 15 minutes. The two of them just
stood in the hotel entrance, and the manager pointing out how the
whole thing happened that night. Jimmy wrote everything down and
thanked the night manager. But before he turned toward his parked
car, Jimmy asked if the doorman heard anything the previous taxi
customer said about the taxi driver or the taxicab.
The manager thought about it for a while. "The receptionist that
night did mention to me that the customer in question was very
mad about his ride in that cab. The older gentleman said the
middle age taxi driver was rude and the taxi cab smelled like an
underground sewage had pipe burst open inside the taxi, but the
taxi driver spoke perfect English with no accent of any sort."
Jimmy wrote the clues down and thanked the night manager.
The next day, his other junior investigators assigned to the case
had found the two stepsisters of Cindy; they lived in the same
small apartment building but right across the hallway from each
other. He checked the address and knew it was in the lesser part
of the city that tourists would never dare to drop by. He decided
to take the worst looking company car, checked the three handguns
he usually didn't carry, and made sure he didn't have too much
money on hand while dressed in the undercover clothes set he
usually wore for stakeouts around central park at night, old and
smelly.
He parked his car, set the car alarm, and went up the apartment
staircase to the 5th floor, finding the two doors he was looking
for. He knocked on one of them, finding one of the stepsisters
busy taking care of eight children inside the small apartment.
From the look of the apartment, she wasn't doing too well in the
money department. She shouted to him what he want, just barely
above crying babies', toddlers learning to talk, and kids that
were busy playing hand held video games. He told her his
intention.
In her shrill voice she said: "It'll cost you 200 bucks!"
Jimmy sat down on the sofa, between the two kids focusing playing
their hand held games. The sister was overweight and seemed to
have another baby on the way, told much of the background
information Jimmy had on the woman. She sat down across from him,
after making sure the two hundred dollars bills weren't fake in
any way.
"Was Cindy was any different after that night of birthday party?'
The woman thought for a while and managed to munch down a bag of
potato chip before answering.
"That ungrateful bitch Cindy did seem to change a little, she was
more aggressive and tried to counter orders from my kind, sweet
mother. Cindy was surer of herself and didn't cry as much as
before. God! I still can't believe what she did to us! And we
were so kind to her!" She cried little and continued. "And
because of her disobeying mother, Cindy was sent to clean the
fireplaces and chimney around the house when the group of PI
searching for her showed up. That was why THAT BITCH Cindy was
wearing dirty overalls and a sweatshirt that was gray, she was
cleaning the fireplaces and with her head inside the chimney, of
course her clothes were all filthy! Her hair was a mess and her
face had few patches of black soot marks on it."
As Jimmy finally got all the questions he wanted to ask, he said.
"Is your sister at home?"
She shook her dirty head. "My sister is working as a janitor on
the day shift in the county courthouse. I work the night shift in
the same building, so we could take care each other's children
while not to spend a dime on child care. We can barely afford
beer!"
He thanked her and left for the government building for the last
interview on his book.
By the time he found the other stepsister of Cindy, she was on
her lunch break and was busy wolfing down three Big Macs with
bacon stripes. She said pretty much the same thing her sister had
told Jimmy.
"I do remember that the ungrateful bitch the morning after the
party, promising to sue the pants off everyone in the house when
my sister ordered her to clean the upstairs bathroom, after we
had thrown up what we had eaten at the party last night."
Jimmy thanked her.
"Never mind the thanks, buddy! Show me the money!"
Back in the detective agency, Jimmy was chewing on his pencil
while reading the notes he had taken down in the last few days.
Adding in what Walter said, plus few other sources that backed
Walter's claim of what happened in the party, a much clearer
picture was emerging. The sweet girl Walter Pascal saw on that
party was the usual Cindy. But the Cindy after the party was
totally different. Jimmy wrote down this thought, wondering if it
was possible that a second personality had surfaced right after
the party, or Cindy knew right after party that she was able to
leave her family with one hundred percent certainty. But neither
case was likely.
"But then the old damn case is unlikely. Why would a sweet
passive girl suddenly turning a bloodthirsty lawyer? Why would a
girl who wanted family and children suddenly avoid kids like the
plague?"
He reviewed what he knew so far. Cindy did take a limo to the
party earlier that evening.
Cindy's two original gowns were cut up by the stepmother and the
stepsisters long before the party, but in the party she had
another gown that was so beautiful that others tried to find the
gowns in local designer shops and didn't find the dress in
question. And that gown had never shown up again, nor had Walter
himself ever seen the gown again. For some reason, Cindy didn't
take the limo she came to the party with, but instead took a
taxicab to get back home. That was a bit unusual, but not unheard
of. The sweet Cindy before and during the party was never seen
again after she returned home. So it must be something that
happened to her that was so harsh that she changed her outlook in
that taxicab.
By coming to that conclusion, Jimmy thought himself nuts to state
that as a fact, but nothing else fit the whole case. He checked
Walter's original statement that his people did try to find the
taxicab that Cindy rode home. They had called all the taxi
companies in the city, but none of them reported to have been at
the Plaza Hotel in that period of time or and picking up any
customer going to Cindy's address. He checked the police logs
finding that no crime had been reported involving a taxicab that
night.
So it was the taxicab, but what could happen in a taxicab? Jimmy
Parish was clueless at that point. He called several taxi drivers
he knew in the city and none of them had anything to offer. Then
he left a message on a source he used sometime, the person was on
the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission Board and he
might know something or the other about any weird taxi driver in
the city.
He decided to call it a day. The caseload and customers had been
dropping in the firm. It happened because of that sneak Donna
Peterson, a young woman junior investigator he hired and trained
for the last two years. But Donna didn't want to be a junior
investigator forever, and after she was trained and she thought
she was ready, she had decided to quit the job two months back
and setup her own investigation firm, stealing half of the
customers from Jimmy's agency. She had been undercutting Jimmy's
price, doing the job faster and quicker without paperwork or
ethics, plus she accepted some cases from the mobs in the city
that Jimmy never handled.
He knew he didn't have any of the resources to go against Donna,
whom he personally trained and took care of during those two
years, almost treating her as his own daughter. But once her
wings were full, she had showed her true colors, jumping ship,
now undercutting what Jimmy had worked so hard to get over so
many years, getting down so low as to help out underground
criminals! He put aside any thoughts he had with Donna and went
on to other business he needed to take care of.
*****
The visit by that private investigator, Jimmy something, had
refreshed the stepmother's fury. She wanted to get back what was
hers from that no good Cindy. That bitch!
Somehow she had been able to prove the will was fake, taking
everything back her father had owned, and then getting the DA to
charge her with all those crimes. The so and so made her own
sweet, kindly stepmother stay in jail for 80 years! Then, as if
it wasn't enough, she decided to take whatever the stepmother had
owned through civil cases and had made the two stepsisters
penniless and left them on the street with nothing in the dead of
winter.
Oh, she remembered the trials she had to get through, loosing in
the end. The teams of best and biggest lawyers backing Cindy up
really made the stepmother's one lawyer in the criminal case look
like toddler in the court. The idiot couldn't handle a case while
the big boys chipped away his entire defense to nothing on the
first days of the trial. And with help of handwriting experts,
the will was proven to be a fake just within two hours of the
trial, then that old and bald headed judge declared the previous
will would have the power and Cindy got her father's wealth back.
Oh, she didn't see it coming at all, the stepmother told herself
in her small cell while knitting the sweater for her cellmate,
Big Kate. She didn't expect Cindy would have that kind of
fighting strength in her, after living with her for over 10 years
in the same house. It wasn't really like Cindy to be against the
flow of things, since normally she would just do what everyone
around her wanted her to do and do so without questioning the
reason, just accept the order of things.
Then she remembered something she heard and saw during the two
weeks after the party, just before the search team found Cindy
and pulled her out of her wonderful stepmother's reach, setting
everything in motion for the stab in the back on her own lovely
stepmother. She thought it through a bit, and decided she might
be able to do something about it. But first, she had to leave
this hellhole. Then she smiled to herself; it won't be a problem
for her to get out. It might be a little bit hard on Big Kate,
whom had became her "husband" of sort in the jail, protecting her
during daytime from other white collar criminals and enjoying the
rewards in the middle of night after lights out.
She almost wanted to laugh out loud in her cell, but thought
better of herself. Oh, poor Cindy, wouldn't you just love to see
your stepmother after all those years?
*****
Five months pregnancy had made her movement around the office a
little bit difficult and slower, but her staff and lawyers all
around her had tried to get out of her way whenever they saw she
was heading their way. Nobody in their right mind wanted to be
the one stuck with the other end of the million dollar law suit
for endangering the new company CEO's wife and their future son.
Cindy still dressed as elegant and looked the best as she usually
did ever since after return to Walter's side five years ago. As
she sat down in her office and began sorting through cases of
lawsuits needed to be filed or counter filed, she enjoyed the
work. During a small break while reaching for a cup of tea, her
eyes caught the gold-framed picture of Walter and herself two
months before their wedding on the desk. The two lovebirds were
sitting in a Paris caf?, smiling and kissing each other while
holding on to each other tightly.
She remembered that day well, he just proposed few minutes
earlier, and one of his security detail took the picture for the
two happy young kids who were madly in love with each other. To
others, she deserved the fairy tale outcome of her life. Married
to the young, handsome and very rich Walter, and into the richest
family of the world, the Pascal family.
But Cindy knew it wasn't really like that, unless you added a
certain cursed taxicab to be the part of the fairy tale.
Over five years ago, she wasn't Cindy Fitzgerald living as maid
to her harsh stepmother and two stepsisters, but a man named
Keith Renoir, the best lawyer in town for estate planning and
trust funds. At least that was what he thought of himself, the
best of the best money can buy. That is, until several estate
benefactors found out their take were much smaller than what they
were led to believe, several million dollars short, to be exact.
Which sent the DA and IRS to his office while he was only minutes
ahead of them, as he transferred all his liquid assets in the
bank to offshore accounts and got out of his office via the
backdoor, running like hell into the dark night in the back
alley.
As soon as he saw the taxi was heading toward him, he didn't
hesitate for an extra second. He flagged it down and told the
driver to head for the airport. He would buy a ticket to Jamaica
at the airline ticket counter with cash, with the help of a fake
passport he bought for this purpose of getting out of country in
a hurry several years back. The driver was mumbling something
about how he used to be the deputy mayor of New York City, but
Keith didn't pay too much attention to him from the backseat.
But nothing did go according to plan on that night of the new
moon. Once he reached the airport and was about to grab his
briefcase full of cash and the small carry on bag of clothes, the
taxi driver told him than to "Have a nice day."
One moment he was nervous, but happy to be about leaving the city
behind him, the next moment he was sitting in the driver's seat
and looking back at HIMSELF giving him a hundred dollar bill as
he walked off toward the airline counter.
Surprised would be a word to describe him at that moment. But
what he saw the next few seconds made him glad the impostor was
in his place. A team of airport police and IRS agents were
waiting for Keith Renoir to make a dash out of the country. They
grabbed him, handcuffed him and led him away from the airport in
a small van. The new taxi driver saw it all and the thought of
spending time in a jail really frightened him.
But since he wasn't Keith Renoir any longer, as he checked his
new face in the rear view mirror in the taxicab, the risk of
going to jail wasn't there anymore. And, if he able to find out
how the switch was done, maybe he could find a way out of the
money trouble he had lately. Just be rich, wealthy and not have
to lift a finger to do much of anything every day, just enjoy the
sun next to a swimming pool and letting women massage him all
over his body all day long.
So over the next two weeks, he read the journal in the taxi
driver's small and dirty apartment, found the rules he had to
follow, and what phrase he had to say and decided who he wanted
to become. He took the taxicab out for fares in normal days and
practiced his new job to perfection, rude to every single
customer he saw, just what a big time lawyer would do to a low
paying client for a small job.
Finally, the day of full moon arrived and the taxi driver
couldn't wait to continue his next part of journey. The first 5
fares he got in the late afternoon to the evening were all short
ones, and he cursed each one of the poor customers as they left
his taxicab. The 6th customer of that night was an old woman whom
wanted to go across town. Normal, any body would be better than
the taxi driver's fat and big beer belly body. But the old woman
must have been near her end on Earth; she was barely able to walk
and had to use one of those walkers to assist her to even take
one step. Getting her in the cab took several minutes, not to
mention the time needed for her to fold the walker to fit in the
cab.
The trip took 30 minutes with fare of around 14 bucks. The taxi
driver didn't want to switch with the old, old woman and didn't
say the word. After the old woman paid her fare with 2 bucks
worth of tip, the pain came. It overpowered the taxi driver to
the point he almost passed out, his skin burns and his brain felt
like about to be ripped off from his head, and he was blind! The
next time he was able to see, it was about 10 minutes later and
he had attracted a group of people around his taxicab, wondering
if he needed help. The taxi driver gathered his thoughts and
cursed everyone around him and took off in his taxicab, going
back on the streets to look for the next victim.
He circled around the town, but didn't get any fares and decided
to take a late dinner around 9pm with whatever money he had made
that day. So he hit the deli near the Central Park that usually
served cheap, but great toasted turkey sandwich in a huge plate.
After the sandwich with two beers, he decided he needed to hit
the local sports bar to catch up on the sports of the day a bit,
and empting another three bottles of beer down his stomach
without a problem. It was around 10:50 that he decided he wanted
to find few other fares, a few victims before calling it a night.
An old, but well dressed gentleman flagged down the taxi few
blocks away and told him to head for Plaza Hotel. The taxi driver
closely examined the old man in the back seat via the rear view
mirror. He was dressed to the point of spreading the look and
smell of money. Must be a rich dude, the taxi driver told
himself. But the problem was the ride would be a short one. He
tried to expand the ride, but he arrived in front of the Plaza
Hotel in 10 minutes. He was pissing mad and started to curse the
old man customer. The old man paid the fare with a 2 bucks tip
without saying a word to the driver and headed for the hotel
entrance.
The taxi driver was totally mad, the night was supposed to be his
golden chance for a new life to start all over in this world.
But, no... all he got was old men, women or a bunch of people
that didn't want to ride long enough in the taxicab. He vented
his anger at the steering wheel with fists of rage, and got a
quicker and short shock in return by the courtesy of the taxi
defending itself. Just as he was about let loose another session
of cursed words and degenerative phrases inside the taxicab, he
saw a young and beautiful woman dressed up in a sexy yet elegant
gown appear on the side of the hotel, looking for something
toward the parking lot.
As he followed the young woman's movement, she seemed to be in
trouble or something. She looked toward the area where at least
100 limos were parked but her face soon turned from being nervous
to a woman that was deep in trouble. Must have been stood up by a
boyfriend or something after he promised a secret late night
rendezvous, or she just got thrown out of a party. But that
wouldn't be his worry or anything.
He checked his watch and decided if no one wanted to take a ride
within another half of hour, then he would just go back to that
little filthy doghouse that the taxi driver called home, maybe
finishing up the remaining three cans of beer he had put in the
refrigerator, if there was nothing better for him to do before
hitting the sack. That would be one of the way for him just to
knock himself out of this world, even if for few hours so he
could be someone and somewhere else in his dream.
Just as he was pulling the taxi out of the hotel entrance, the
young lady in the elegant gown ran over to his taxicab and gave
him her home address and told him to hurry. With that command,
the taxi left the Plaza Hotel and went back on the street of New
York City.
As the taxi driver trying to talk up a conversion with the young
lady and maybe get some helpful hints about who she was in
return. He told her he used to be a great lawyer and his life
full of story went on and on, but the young lady wasn't paying
too much attention to the driver. He could see her smiling into
the view outside of the taxi, but at times would become nervous
at something. Then, her nose noticed the smell in the taxi and
she had that certain kind of look on her face.
Of course, the driver knew the part of the city the woman wanted
to go back, it was the area the rich had their well maintained
houses, and might even have a doorman or two. He might have just
struck the gold mine! Although the young lady wanted the taxi
take her to the address as fast as the taxi allowed, the driver
in fact slowed it down a bit, just in case he needed the extra
one or two minutes. Barely keeping an eye on the road while
driving on the city street near midnight, the driver was watching
the clock and the fare meter with constant eyes. But most of the
time his eyes were admiring the wonderful female figure and
beautiful face on the back seat.
23 minutes later and with fare of $13.40, they arrived in front
of the big house the young woman must call home. There was
something familiar about the address in the driver's mind, but he
didn't remember why. The young lady was in a hurry, the driver
noticed. She opened the door fairly quick, but as she was trying
to step out of the taxicab, her floor length gown was giving her
a problem, not being helped by her pair of 3-inch high heels that
she couldn't see under the gown. Finally, she pulled the gown up
and her right leg was about to hit the pavement. And then, the
taxi driver yelled at her.
"Have a nice night, Miss!"
Then he was the young woman with part of her gown gathered in her
hands, standing on the pavement in the pair of high heels. He
knew then and was certain the body swap was a great success as
her hands let go of the gown. She smiled to herself and gladly
looked inside the purse she found she was carrying, and found two
hundred dollar bills inside.
She took one of them out and handed to the now paled face taxi
driver, and was about to wait for the taxi driver to break the
hundred dollars bill and return the change in full, she wasn't
about to give the new taxi driver a penny in tip. But then she
suddenly remembered whom she was, why she was at that birthday
party in the garden of Plaza Hotel, why she had to be home before
11:30pm, and what happen if she missed the expected phone call
from her wicked and evil stepmother!
"Keep the change!" And she turned around hand ran at full speed
back inside the house.
The phone had just started to ring, and the new Cindy Fitzgerald
was able to cover the distance between the front door and the
phone in the living room just before the caller gave up and hung
up the phone. It was her stepmother!
"Why did it take you so long to answer the phone? You know I
would call home to check on you and you didn't wait next to the
phone for the last half hour? You know you wasted my time for
five extra phone rings!"
Cindy heard the stepmother taking out her anger at her from the
other end of the phone call. And she knew why! Then she
remembered whose house this was, the Fitzgerald's! As Keith
Renoir, the estate lawyer in the former life, he had personally
handled all of Cindy's father's estate planning and all other
investment assets. And when he got married and later on his
deathbed he handled all of his financial dealings.
The woman, now on the other end of the phone call, had proposed
to him that for a 10% cut of the dying old man assets, he would
help her forge his will and transferred all to the stepmother
instead giving them to Cindy. 10% of the total assets of around
14 million dollars was a lot of money over 10 years ago. He cut
the deal and covered all ends of creating a new will, and he
earned the money fair and square for quick day worth of work. But
now, he was the penniless Cindy, the young woman he help to
transform from a would be rich heiress to someone living with her
stepmother basically as a living maid ready for call 24 hours a
day! What comes around does go around, he thought bitterly.
"I'm sorry Mother! I was down in the basement in my room and
watching TV down there. I didn't mean to anger you," the new
Cindy decided to handle the stepmother by saying things the good
old Cindy would have said.
"No, no. From the sound of your voice, you must be having a feast
with the foods in the refrigerator! Did you take a couple of
spoon bites out of that Ben and Jerry Dark Chocolate ice cream?
Or that Dreyer Cookie Dough ice cream? Don't tell me, you ate the
whole carton of the Haagen Dazs Silky Smooth French Vanilla!"
Cindy's stepmother accused her.
Cindy was now getting mad; nobody, and she mean nobody, dared to
talk to her in that kind of voice in her previous life as great
Keith Renoir, the estate lawyer! And her top blew right then
while still on the phone with her stepmother.
"Listen, you bitch! Only dogs and pigs like you and your two ugly
and fat daughters need to eat tons of ice cream right out of the
cardboard carton without a spoon! I said I was watching TV in my
room, and that meant I was watching TV in my room! If you dare to
accuse me one more thing tonight, I'll will make sure you will be
hit with the biggest lawsuit you ever see in your life!" And
Cindy slammed the phone set down hard, still angry by her
stepmother.
At the other end of the phone call, the stepmother was totally
shocked her stepdaughter would say such things to her. She was
speechless for a few moments before decided that bad mouth of
Cindy's would need a good punishment really soon. She looked and
finally gathered up her two daughters still busy chasing after
waiters and waitresses for the plates of foods that were being
sent back to the hotel kitchen. The three of them went to the
front of the hotel and found their limo was only one of the two
limos from the party was still in the parking lot of the Plaza
Hotel. The stepmother kicked the driver out of his deep dreams
and told him that they would like to go home, NOW!
As the black limo was pulling away, the stepmother noticed the
only limo left was the white one and its driver was fully dressed
in typical limo driver uniform and hat, but he was looking for
something or someone. She didn't think too much about it, as her
mind was totally filled with lack of success of her two
daughters, and that certain stepdaughter of hers dared to talked
to her like that on the phone.
In the same time, back in the house basement, the new Cindy was
busy removing her makeup and tried her best to get her hair back
to what they used to look like before, messy and unattractive.
The gown and other things she wore and brought to the party was
now carefully lying on her bed, and she had no place to hide
them. She cursed the stepmother and her stepsisters again and
again as her hands quickly making wipe clean of everything she
put on before the party. The smell of the perfume was going to be
hard to get rid of, and she would need to take a quick shower to
get rid most of the smell. Then, she would find dirt or something
to make her face and body dirty up again, just what Cindy
normally would appear to be.
Just as she was still worrying where to hide the gown and shoes,
in front of her eyes, the gowns and others things sent over by
Mindy started to disappear before her eyes.
Cindy rubbed her eyes in disbelief, but the gown and all the
matching items she had on an hour ago had disappeared into the
thin air. It was then Cindy decided Mindy, the good old Cindy's
friend from the net, must be a witch! Cindy then remembered that
the friends Cindy had on the net and was scared at what would
happen if they found out the new Cindy wasn't the good old Cindy
from before the party! She must stay away from them in the
future.
She got in the shower and quickly scrubbed down her new body. She
saw her perfect and naked female body in the bathroom mirror. It
was a heavenly sight to behold as her hands held on to her two
mammoth mounds she called breasts, and it felt real good to hold
them in her hands! She quickly washed her new body and washed her
hair without much time being spent on them; since she knew her
stepmother and stepsister would be on their way home soon.
After the shower, she grabbed a handful of dirt from the
basement, near the heater, and put them on her face, hands and
legs. She put on an old hand-me-down cotton nightgown from her
stepsisters that was a size or two too large for Cindy's perfect
body.
As she was ready to play the role Cindy to her new family, she
heard a limo pulling up in front of the house and she could hear
the loud voices of her stepmother and two stepsisters even from
the basement. Cindy quickly turned off the light in her bedroom
and went on top of the small cot that Cindy had been calling her
bed for the last few years.
Soon, her stepmother went down to the basement, and turned on the
light in Cindy's room. Cindy faked her deep sleep by slowly
opening her eyes, starting to rub her eyes as if she had just
woke up.
"How dare you to shout back to me like that on the phone earlier
tonight?" The stepmother yelled at Cindy, her anger was still
strong, as usual. But the new Cindy wasn't going to have any of
it.
"Because that's the only way you would understand, bitch!" Cindy
told her and flipped the middle finger and gave her stepmother
the Hawaii welcome sign.
"How dare you!" The stepmother's face was turning red, almost
blowing her head off. But Cindy wasn't finished yet, not for a
while.
"What are you going to do? Kick me out of the house; out of this
lousy place I call my room? Yeah, as if you could? Then you have
to pay big dollars for a maid that you could boss around 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year! Gee, who's that stupid and
desperate to need a job like that? Besides, any maid that's
stupid enough to try to get a job here would be talked out of the
idea by other maids working around here when she walked from the
subway station or from the bus stop!" Cindy was enjoying the
healthy exchange she was having with her new stepmother. Such an
ugly woman, Cindy thought.
Maybe few more talks like this, Cindy would be able to get out of
Cindy's miserable existence for good!
The stepmother didn't know what to say or respond to her
stepdaughter. She never dared to talk back to her in her memory!
But what could she say now to save her face?
"I'll get you for this, I'll get you!" The stepmother stormed off
the room and hit the wall hard several times on her way back up
to the kitchen. She would find a way by tomorrow morning to put
that little bitch in her rightful place, the stepmother told
herself.
"Go ahead, sweetheart, take your best shot!" Cindy yelled after
her stepmother
It felt great! Almost as good as being a lawyer. She looked at
her bed and down at the nightgown she was wearing, and decided
she had to change a few things around here. She took off her
nightgown and panties, after closing her bedroom's door. She
turned off the light and went back on the bed, sleeping in the
nude as the good old Keith Renoir had done for the rest of his
life.
The cold sheet touched Cindy's nipples and they hardened to the
point that she could felt something was happening to her new
body. In fact, her hands were exploring her new body under the
thin and cold military issued green blanket in the middle of
darkness. Her body was reacting to her hands as her breath
started to get heavy. Her hands moved down slowly over her smooth
and thin belly, then down between her legs. She felt her finger
probing her vagina, in a slow fashion. Her mind was totally
excited and her eyes closed as she started to experience what it
felt like to be a young woman.
Cindy was so busy with her exploration that she didn't hear the
sound of footsteps outside of her room, where both of her
stepsisters were down there about to brag what kind of party they
had that night. But before anyone of them could open their
mouths, they heard Cindy moaning from her room, the kind of
moaning the two of them had experienced only twice each.
That is, when the men in question at different occasions were
sharing a bed with either of the full figure women, the men being
drunk to the degree that they almost couldn't function as a man
should have. As the morning light hit the cheap motel room, the
men would wake up first, see the woman next to him and yell a cry
that none of the two sisters would understood why. The men would
get quickly dressed as soon as they could and run out of the
hotel room, and one of the men didn't even bother to put his
clothes on, just ran out of the room with his clothes, all
hurried, gathered in his hands.
The moaning bought back pleasant memories for the two women, but
did that also mean there was a man inside the room now with Cindy
and giving her the pleasure that the two all remembered so well,
plus the heavy breath of cheap booze? They wanted to take a look,
but settled to just listen outside of the room and wonder whom it
might be with that ugly and dirty Cindy now. Next-door gardener
whom was about 70 years old? Must have stolen one or two Viagra
pills from the rich Jewish Mr. Barak next door. Or it might be
swimming pool cleaner that checked on the Campbell Mansion once a
week from late Spring to early Fall, but the guy was kind of
weird, only wearing a women G-string and nothing else when
working.
Cindy didn't know her stepsisters were outside of the room and
were listening as while she was about to have her first female
orgasm. Her finger getting deeper and deeper inside her, the
intensity of the pleasure increased and frequency of pain and
pleasure getting closer. Then it came, and Cindy almost let out a
big yell but caught herself at the last moment and covered her
mouth with the pillow to muffing her cry of achieving orgasm as a
woman!
Slowly, Cindy's breath returned to normal as she was enjoying the
afterglow of her first orgasm as a young woman. Her naked body
was covered with heavy sweat and her hair was dampened and wet.
She remembered what her orgasm felt, the pain, the pleasure and
the smell of it all. She smiled to herself in the darkness of her
room.
"Oh man! I never would have dreamed that a female orgasm would be
like this! I'm glad I exchanged my old male body for a body like
this!" She gloated to herself in the darkened room, and then
decided she need to try it all over again and working on her
second orgasm as a woman.
Her stepsisters outside of the room heard Cindy talking to
herself but didn't understand a thing she was saying. Was there a
man there, or was Cindy was all by herself and was doing a single
sex show in her bedroom? Before they could find out, their mother
was calling to them asking if they had ate dessert before going
to bed. The two sisters silently went back up to the kitchen and
wolfed down half gallon of ice cream each.
The two stepsisters went back up to their bedroom on the third
floor, and was chatting away how the ugly and stupid Cindy must
be masturbating. One of the sisters made the gesture of sticking
her index finger deep inside her mouth to give the impression of
grossness of the mental picture they were forming. But before she
could pull her finger out of her mouth, she felt something she
ate in the party, plus the half-gallon of ice cream she just had
few minutes ago, was finding their way back up. She ran to the
bathroom and barely got there in time to throw up her dinner and
dessert into the toilet bowl for about 20 minutes. The other
sister heard and smell the gross things been erupting in the
bathroom and was laughing at the other sister's expense. But
then, she felt her stomach wasn't feeling too good and went to
another bathroom barely in time to see the white and clean toilet
bowl before her world was filled with green and yellow floating
things.
When both sisters finally emerged from the bathroom after
brushing teeth and using mouthwash at least three times, the
smell of what each of them puked up was still at tip of their
tongues and inside their mouths. That, both of them decided, was
Cindy's fault. And would she get it over the next few weeks, and
the two stepsisters could hammer out ways to punishment for Cindy
without much trouble. As both of them returned to their
respective bedrooms to sleep, soon were dreaming about the only
dish they weren't able to taste at the party, all because their
mother tried to get the two sisters to see that so-so looking
Walter Pascal.
*****
Over the next two weeks, the new Cindy was able to read about
Walter was trying to find the young woman that stole his heart at
his 23rd birthday party. It was the talk of the town for most of
the two weeks, since Walter was trying to find out who she was.
The taxicab companies in the city were turning upside down over
and over again, just trying to find if their drivers had picked
up such lady that night. And the tabloids in the city picked up
few clues that the best computer code breakers and experts were
in New York City trying to break something important for Walter
Pascal, the son of the wealthiest man on the face of Earth.
Then the best private investigators in the city and around the
world joined the search for the mystery woman that stole Walter's
heart. A week after the party, nothing turned up, nothing. The
New York Police Department and FBI were all called in the case
and did their best, but also handed empty result to the Pascal
family, except for the police artist drawing of the woman in
question. Newspapers and tabloids had a field day of printing
Cindy's beautiful face from that night on their first page.
Lots of women in and around stepped forward, saying they were the
mystery woman in that party, but all were discredited after
little digging by the police and packs of private investigators.
The toll free hotline Walter set up for any information led to
finding the mystery woman was often jammed but nothing came out
of it. Walter even offered 5 million dollars worth of reward for
the person able to give helpful information that would lead to
finding the mystery woman. Days passed, and then a week passed,
nothing! After a week and half, the reward money was still
unclaimed, except lots of want to be get rich guys and gals that
gave false information and soon were round up by the police right
after their initial meeting with the teams of private detectives
Walter and his parents hired.
Then Walter decided to go back to basics and put out teams of 10
private detectives and his security personnel to check on each of
the guests that attended the party that night, plus the employees
of the Plaza Hotel, and the caters, the waiters and waitresses at
the party that night, just want to leave no stone unturned. Two
weeks after the party, no solid leads were to be had even though
Walter had poured tons of money into searching for his love. He
almost gave up after 2 weeks of restless sleep every night, and
seeing that beautiful face almost everywhere after the doctor
told his parents that their son was getting too little sleep and
might go nuts soon if the woman wasn't found quick. Walter's
parents put even more manpower and money into the search, now it
wasn't just finding the woman, but trying to save their son's
mental health.
Then on the 15th night after the party, the team of 10 private
investigators money can buy visited their last house on the
team's list of who had attended the party that night yet to be
visited and interviewed yet.
With 20 teams interviewing those people on the list all around
the city, 5 other teams already called back in saying they got
nothing after more than a week of interviews. The signs weren't
that good, and Walter was personally manning his phone in the
search command center for his dream lover, not eating anything
that day and only drinking a small glass of water. His parents
saw their son and knew tonight would tell if the woman of their
son's dream would be found, or not.
The team of the 10 investigators knocked on the house and the
stepmother and the 2 stepsisters already knew they were coming,
since Walter's people had called ahead the day before, telling
them a team of interviewers would be asking few questions around
8pm.
And it would be most helpful if everyone in the house attended
the party would be made available in the clothes they wore to the
party that night, and mentally ready for few rounds of
questioning.
So when the front door bell rang, less than one second later, the
front door was wide open and the three women were all standing
there, greeting the 10 investigators as if they were kings of
some oil rich countries. Soon the meeting was taking place in the
living room. The youngest stepsister was the one to be asked
after verifying her identity with her passport and one other
photo ID. Then a picture was taken of the stepsister in the dress
she wore to the party
"Miss, could you tell me if you lost anything in the party? And
what is it?" the leader of the team asked and everyone in the
search team took out their notepads and making sure the 4
different video camcorders were all working, all aiming at the
woman been asked.
"Of course, I lost an earring in the party, a 5 caret diamond
earring." She told the investigators with a smile. The
investigators in return almost wished they didn't have to go
through with this household at all. The reason these three guests
were among the last to be interviewed was because Walter
remembered them fairly well from the party, and told the
investigation teams that the chance of finding his dream love in
that house would be almost impossible to no chance at all.
"Thank you, uhm, Miss."
The 10 investigators wrote her answer down on their notepad, and
went on interviewing the other stepsister. Seeing her sister
hadn't answered the trick question right, she was glad. She
thought she had the answer, the answer she had been rehearsed
since the news of interviews for all party attendees had been
reported in the newspaper.
"I lost my heart in that party, to that young, handsome and rich
Mr. Walter Pascal." She said with her most sincere voice.
The team of investigators, almost wanted to throw up, it was the
same answer over 80 girls and women had answered in their
interviews. The interviewers turned to the stepmother, and asked
the same question to her.
The stepmother knew she had the correct answer, she was so sure.
She even bought the storybook of Cinderella from a bookstore,
which the fairy-tale storybook had suddenly become the best
seller around the nation.
"Oh, I think I lost my glass slipper in the party. Do you guys
have it?" the stepmother said with a smile.
The ten investigators really wanted to throw up this time, since
it was the most popular answer of all. The leader of the search
team checked off all three women in front of him, and saw
something else that wasn't right.
"Ladies, one quick question to you all, please. Won't take that
much time."
The three women, all knew their answers were the wrong and were
about to boot the 10 men from the house. But from the sound of
the lead investigator, they might still have a slim chance to be
rich.
"Yes," all three women said at once.
"There were three invitations sent to this address. Two of them
were addressed to you two, which you two bought your mother to
the party, correct?" All three women nodded to the question.
"But where's the third young lady that was invited to the party?
Was she sick or not able to be here with us tonight?" the lead
investigator asked.
All he got was rounds of laughter at his face. Few minutes later
after the laughter in the room died down, the guy asked why the
women were laughing so hard?
"You mean dirty and ugly Cindy? Oh, she did receive the
invitation from Mr. Pascal. But she didn't attend the party
because, because we cut her two gowns up! If she had went to the
party, she would be naked!" And the three of them went into
another round of laughter.
The lead investigator was now very short on patients then, but he
controlled his emotion a little big longer, and asked:
"Could we see this Miss Cindy in question?"
"Oh, sure. And she would be dressed in her best clothes when she
meets you in few minutes!" The three women laughed a little bit
longer before went to the staircase leading toward the 2nd floor
and yelled their lungs out.
"Yo, Cindy! Get your ugly butt down here now!" the three women
yelled in the same time.
The 10 investigators talked among themselves, wondering if this
would be another dead end, and might have to kiss their bonus
check of half million dollar for good-bye for good.
Cindy was in the middle of cleaning up the fireplace on the third
floor, all because her stepmother and stepsisters were punishing
her for her new and shocking attitude against their family. When
she heard her name was been called, she knew her chance of
getting out of this hellhole had come. Without trying to clean
herself up too much, she slowly walked to her stepmother and
stepsisters, all three were still giggling about something.
They escorted Cindy to the team of investigators. After the usual
necessary procedure of proving who she was, the lead investigator
asked the question of the night again.
"Hello, Miss Cindy. Did you lost anything in the party over two
weeks ago, the birthday party for Mr. Walter Pascal, held at the
Plaza Hotel garden?" he asked, and was sure it might be a dead
end for the team.
The young woman in front of them fit the descriptions their
employer gave, but she was dressed in a very dirty overall and a
gray color sweatshi